Global Online Education Fosters Enlightened Universal Community

Dr. Diane Howard's Publications, Presentations
Twitter Impact

Global E-Communication
Fosters Enlightened Universal Community

Diane Howard, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2004

World Association of Online Education

In the arena of the World Wide Web (WWW), there is a qualitatively new, virtual dimension. Elements of the visceral world, such as those related to physical bodies, places, and cultures seem less significant and impacting in this new arena. The WWW has created a dimension where our minds and souls can freely share, connect, and bond with people around the globe. Cyberspace scholar, Pierre Levy (1998), describes it as a deterritorialized world in which there is more of a sense of a global collective we who work, communicate, experience collectively in virtual communities, virtual corporations, and virtual democracies. It is a qualitatively new kind of collective we.

The equalizing, leveling, anonymous, and disembodying aspects of communication in cyberspace can provide powerful opportunities for social justice, enfranchisement, inclusion, and equal opportunity. E-technologies can provide opportunities for global online education that can positively empower students around the world and foster internationally enlightened, balanced, educated communities. Skillful interactive cyber communicational and educational techniques can supersede universal tendencies to diminish, dismiss, or stereotype others due to gender, ethnicity, racial, and cultural differences.

The contemporary world of the Internet is more than simply an information highway (Levy, 1998). It is a unique dimension, which affects almost every area of many of our lives. In it we have the opportunity live in a new global community facilitated by interactive, e-technologies in which we can share perspectives and experiences from diverse cultures. In this new universal community we can participate in global education, communication, and collaboration that balances ethno-centric perspectives.

Pierre Levy (1998) contends that communication in the virtual world can cultivate collective intelligence, which can encourage the development of intelligent communities. He states that sharing of information, knowledge, and expertise in e-communities can promote a kind of dynamic, collective intelligence, which can affect all spheres of our lives. He contends that the virtual world can foster positive connections, cooperation, bonds, and civil interactions. In e-groups or communities, which are flexible, democratic, reciprocal, respectful, and civil, this collective intelligence can be continually enhanced and enhancing (Levy, 1998). Online education that provides for group projects and communal pooling of resources, insights, and work can foster the kind of collective intelligence and knowledge that Levy describes.

Researchers in science, education, business, and industry arenas are pooling their collective intelligence, knowledge, and data in collaboratories. These are virtual centers in which people in different locations work together in real time, as if they were all in the same place. Science, education, commerce, and industry have become increasingly global. Collaboration, which is efficient, maximizing, and time-saving among distance students, facilitators, and researchers has become more critical. As distance technology has become more efficient and cost-effective, distance collaboration has become more common. The National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health have encouraged grant recipients to form collaboratories. These scholarly, virtual groups are cybersteps beyond distance sharing of asynchronous data when researchers individually take what they want from online databases. Collaboratories enable researchers at distant locations to interact, hold lab meetings, and work with data in real time (Buyya, 2001).

However, in order to foster a positive, democratic, respectful, cooperative global, e-world of constructive education, communication, and collaboration, we must continue to strive toward acquiring and practicing appropriate skills to foster effective online education, civil discourse, and productive communities in Cyberspace. Effective distance communication, facilitation and moderating techniques via modern e-technologies can enhance personalizing, humanizing, equalizing, socializing, therapeutic, and empowering interactions. (Howard, 2000, 2002). However, in this new virtual, global, e-world, we are required to learn fresh techniques to most effectively collaborate, instruct, facilitate, and cooperate. In order to participate effectively and viably in the cyber world that has great potential to enhance us, we need to continuously learn and work at effective communicational skills and empowering educational facilitation as we work with new
e-technologies.

References

Buyya, R. <rajkumar@csse.monash.edu.au> (2001, July). Making Cyberspace collaboration succeed. < tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de> (2001, July).

Howard, D. (2000). Autobiographical writing and performing: An introductory, contemporary guide to process and research in speech performance. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Howard, D. (2002). Enhanced by Technology, Not Diminished: A Practical Guide to Effective, Distance Communication, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Levy, P. (1998). Becoming virtual: Reality in the digital age. (R.B. Bononno, Trans.) New York: Plenum Publishing.